Good morning everyone. A few days ago, the $149 annual fee posted to my Virgin America Premium Credit Card. I called the number on the back of the credit card to see if there were any retention offers available, but sadly, the rep had no offers available for me. Instead of closing the credit card, the rep suggested that I downgrade to the Virgin America Visa Signature Credit Card that had a $49 annual fee.
Most of the card benefits are the same for both cards, including the Virgin America $150 off companion discount code, free checked bag, and 20% off in-flight purchases. The only difference between the credit cards is the Visa Signature credit card does not earn status points (not a big deal since I am Virgin America Gold and Alaska Airlines MVP Gold), I will get charged a fee for changing or cancelling my ticket (I never used this feature when I had my Virgin America Premium Credit Card) and I will be charged foreign transaction fees (I will never use this credit card internationally).
The only reason I kept the credit card is for the Virgin America $150 off companion discount code and my curiosity surrounding what will happen to this credit card when the Alaska Airlines / Virgin America merger is complete. If my memory is correct, the Virgin America $150 off companion discount code used to only apply to the Virgin America Premium Credit Card, but sometime in the last year, that benefit was added to the Virgin America Visa Signature Credit Card.
Here is the letter stating that my credit card was successfully downgraded (product changed / converted) from the Virgin America Premium Credit Card to the Virgin America Visa Signature Credit Card. My annual fee dropped from $149 to $49 and I will receive a statement credit for the difference in annual fees within 45 days. Lastly, there is no spending bonus on this credit card, so this credit card will never be used except for redeeming the Virgin America $150 off companion discount code.
Here are both of the Virgin America credit cards, side by side. I closed the card on the left (the Virgin America Premium Credit Card) and just received the card on the right (Virgin America Visa Signature Credit Card).
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- Virgin America Premium Credit Card Front
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- Virgin America Visa Signature Credit Card Front
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- Virgin America Premium Credit Card Back
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- Virgin America Visa Signature Credit Card Back
Here is the letter that came with the new credit card, highlighting all the credit card benefits.
Lastly, here are the complete terms and conditions of the Virgin America Visa Signature Credit Card. You can learn about the Virgin America $150 discount companion code, how the free checked bag works, what qualifies for the 20% off in-flight purchases, and much more.
If you have any questions about the Virgin America Visa Signature Credit Card, please leave a comment below. Have a great day everyone!
Data point here. I was in same situation, with $149 Annual Fee (AF) due this month. Called Comenity and told them I wasn’t willing to pay AF due to uncertainty of card going forward due to merger. Agent immediately offered to credit me $149, to offset AF. So sounds like a true YMMV.
I’ve never been able to take advantage of companion code, but have used free change/cancellation option many times. That’s the biggest perk for me.
Hi Tom, thank you for the data point. I’m glad you used the change / cancelation feature on the credit card. I must not have spent enough on the credit card to justify an annual fee waiver. Oh well.
I opened this card three years ago, and am now 2 for 2 for $149 annual fee waivers. I simply said, “Can you waive my annual fee?” I received zero push back at all either year while spending less than 10 minutes on the phone. I barely use the card, I spent less than $1000 on it last year most of that being a single $800 purchase. Sometimes we make this game too hard, and the easiest way to win is just to ask the most basic question.
Darn, I bummed I did not get an easy offer like this. I asked if he could waive the annual fee or give me a $149 statement credit to offset the annual fee, both ideas were rejected.
Call for retention for couple year but no luck. You guys are pretty lucky to get AF waived.
I tried to get my AF waived and the agent said that they’d only refund the amount if I cancel the card. The phone rep also said that the VX credit card program is still scheduled to be operational until the end of the year.
So no luck on the AF refund.
Thanks for this post! I had it marked as a to-do in my inbox since my annual fee just posted too! I called in and they waived the whole $149 for me. I haven’t used the card in nearly a year, but I did have high spending on it during the first year, and I kept it the second year thinking I was going to MS on it some more but nope…other better cards came along…
Awesome, I’m glad you got an annual fee waiver this year :)
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